Just maybe he knew people that had been falsely accused, as I have. Making accusations like that, without solid proof are just as heinous as the actual crimes.

See, I can speculate as much as you.

Animal60 on July 27, 2012 at 5:26 PM

He didn’t need solid proof – that’s what the legal authorities are supposed to get. He just needed to relay what McQueary told him and have the legal authorities – not the university itself – do their investigation.

He likely already knew reports of the 1998 incident, and I find it quite a stretch to believe he didn’t given the way Sandusky was forced to retire. That right there was a huge red flag, and reports of a second incident should have been all he needed to go to the real authorities (read: not the athletic director) with what he knew. Instead he reported it up his university chain of command and then simply forgot about it. As even Paterno himself said, he should have done more.

It’s ironic, isn’t it, that the ONLY person in all of this who expressed public regret about not doing more is the one who is most vilified.
It’s also ironic that in the Philadelphia Catholic priest abuse scandal, the ONLY person who expressed public regret about not doing more is now serving 3-6 years (and he made the admission prior to his being convicted).
@Animal60, +1. Well spoken.

either orr on July 27, 2012 at 3:21 PM

I have to wonder how many of these self righteous posters would but their livelihood on the line, their families at stake betting on second hand knowledge.

Having been the spokesperson once for what I thought was a vocal cohesive group turned into “just me” with everyone else changing to “it is not so bad” mentality. What really p.o’s me is that the real culprits will likely walk away while the “shiny object” of college football takes the brunt of the lynch mobs mentality of many of the posters here.

It is no wonder that liberals get away with so much when they make a plea “for the children”. It seems to have clouded a lot of minds here.

How many of us, knowing what Paterno knew and seeing Sandusky still reporting for work and still around young boys would just shrug and keep going?

No, it seems that “technically” he is not guilty of a crime, but at some point common sense and basic decency should be expected and Paterno failed.

So sorry, Mr. Mirengoff, your picking of nits does not distract from the big picture.

kim roy on July 27, 2012 at 2:01 PM

Again, Sandusky stopped working for Penn State in 1998.

It seems very unfair to hold Paterno responsible for Sndusky’s acts as a private citizen years after he left Penn State’s employ,

It’s also not clear what Paterno knew. McQuery came to him, incoherent, and apparently said he saw Sandusky doing something sexually inappropriate with a young boy in the shower. McQuery even says he didn’t tell Paterno exactly what he saw. Paterno reported it. It does not appear that he was equipped to investigate it further on his own. Sandusky had not worked for Penn State for years by that time. How could Paterno, with the repsonsibilities of head coach and English professor conduct this investigation? What authority did he have over an ex-employee? False accusations of child abuse ruin lives. He may have felt that it was appropriate for the University to investigate prior to making a public accusation. McQuery was fairly new at the time and there may have been questions about the truth of his comments and the nature of what occurred. If there was something bad happening, why didn’t he, as a strapping young man, step in and stop it at the time? If someone came to you with a story like this about someone you knew for a long time, would you believe them without question? Would you report a husband or brother or father to the police without knowing more?

I appreciate hotair including a more balanced approach to the incident. Many of the reports appear to have been scapegoating Paterno.

As far as claims of deification etc from the lynch mob, maybe the facts should be observed instead of acting like the emotional knee jerkers that typify the left side of the aisle. If additional information comes to light that he actively covered things up, I will be the first to condemn him.

Yes, because criticizing someone who received a first hand report of a child being raped in the shower and chose to do the minimum he could constitutes a “lynch mob”. Calling someone out for not doing more after hearing said first hand report, even when said someone himself said he wished he’d done more, constitutes a “lynch mob.” It’s all just emotional knee jerk reaction, isn’t it? Who cares about little boys being raped while Paterno himself did the minimum he could to put an end to it.

He was no longer an employee under Paterno, yet he was continually granted access to campus facilities by the PSU administration despite Paterno’s objections.

So what principled stand did he take after his objections were overuled?

The PSU attorney stated that he had to be granted access or the university could be sued.

…

Animal60 on July 27, 2012 at 3:15 PM

Looks like that plan backfired, didn’t it?

]]>By: INChttp://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/27/too-good-to-check-disgraced-ex-chief-of-penn-state-now-working-on-national-security/comment-page-1/#comment-6070699
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 20:09:19 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=208895#comment-6070699I read about him on Wiki last fall. I found the article in a Wiki footnote:

You can only read the abstract online, but I’m fairly certain I was able to look at the entire article last fall. Now you have to pay if you want to download the PDF. IMO Spanier is an uber-creep. Who would go to him for marriage/family therapy??

It’s incomprehensible why he would be working on national security except that Academia and D.C. seem to swim in the same swamp of Chicago values.

He’s now working in national security.? He is a family therapist! What credentials does he have, besides growing up in Chicago? If he is, I personally think it is total BS. He has even less credentials than BHO did when he came enetered into the oval office. What a joke!

Patriot Vet on July 27, 2012 at 11:45 AM

You reminded me. When this broke last fall I think I found an article this guy wrote online. Let me see if I can locate it again.

]]>By: either orrhttp://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/27/too-good-to-check-disgraced-ex-chief-of-penn-state-now-working-on-national-security/comment-page-1/#comment-6070548
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 19:21:33 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=208895#comment-6070548It’s ironic, isn’t it, that the ONLY person in all of this who expressed public regret about not doing more is the one who is most vilified.
It’s also ironic that in the Philadelphia Catholic priest abuse scandal, the ONLY person who expressed public regret about not doing more is now serving 3-6 years (and he made the admission prior to his being convicted).
@Animal60, +1. Well spoken.
]]>By: Animal60http://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/27/too-good-to-check-disgraced-ex-chief-of-penn-state-now-working-on-national-security/comment-page-1/#comment-6070527
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 19:15:05 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=208895#comment-6070527

people need to stop making excuses for the adults who knew and did nothing but cover their own asses to protect their precious football program.

mittens on July 27, 2012 at 2:34 PM

People need to stop thinking that it was the football program that needed “protection” or was somehow enabling Sandusky.

Sandusky was removed from the football team even though no charges were brought against him after the ’98 incident. He was no longer an employee under Paterno, yet he was continually granted access to campus facilities by the PSU administration despite Paterno’s objections. The PSU attorney stated that he had to be granted access or the university could be sued.

Yes there were adults that are protecting their asses, and they are letting football be the scapegoat and distraction as their protection.

As far as claims of deification etc from the lynch mob, maybe the facts should be observed instead of acting like the emotional knee jerkers that typify the left side of the aisle. If additional information comes to light that he actively covered things up, I will be the first to condemn him.

In hindsight, should Paterno have pressed the issue more? Of course, monday morning quarterbacking is always easy.

I believe Sandusky is 100% guilty, but like other types of master criminals before him, Sandusky was a master at concealing the true horror of his crimes….

heckrules on July 27, 2012

it’s not that he was such a master criminal it’s that sadly other adults chose to enable him and cover for him whatever their reasons.

it’s pretty standard behavior with serial child rapers and their enablers- other adults around predators (that are required by law to report suspected abuse of children to outside agencies-social services, law enforcement) do nothing. molesters are skilled manipulators of both children and the adults around targeted children. some adults don’t seem to need much manipulating to pretend they didn’t see a grown man raping a child,.

this man’s behavior couldn’t have been more blatant- in the showers at a school can hardly be said to be artfully concealed. he committed the crimes for sure but he could have been stopped or at the least removed from having access to the school and children. he’s not a master criminal- serial child rapers have among the highest victim counts of any sexual predators because of the age and vulnerability of their victims. they also serve among the smallest of sentences if convicted- and they’re not often convicted. he was a monster but not particularly masterful-he just was surrounded by people in massive denial who covered for themselves and their football program by covering for him.

people need to stop making excuses for the adults who knew and did nothing but cover their own asses to protect their precious football program.

How many of us, knowing what Paterno knew and seeing Sandusky still reporting for work and still around young boys would just shrug and keep going?

No, it seems that “technically” he is not guilty of a crime, but at some point common sense and basic decency should be expected and Paterno failed.

So sorry, Mr. Mirengoff, your picking of nits does not distract from the big picture.

kim roy on July 27, 2012 at 2:01 PM

Amen.

It’s sickening to see the apologists at work, but it’s very instructive in revealing how the culture of Penn State football is so embedded that something like this could happen. If you read through Mirengoff’s post, the previous post referenced therein, and the comments sections on both, you will see a ton of hair splitting, obfuscation, focusing on technicalities, and downright lying about the facts of the case (e.g., some people are now saying that McQueary didn’t witness anything, which is absurd).

In the end, there are a few basic facts that cannot be ignored. Paterno, if he wasn’t sure about Sandusky’s nature after the 1998 reports, had to know the same without any doubt after the 2001 incident. While he reported something to his so-called superiors at Penn State, he did nothing else and he knew Sandusky continued to have access to Penn States facilities. So for the next 10+ years he continued to shrug his shoulders at it all. And that might be the best case reading of what happened.

Many of us around here love to point out the hypocrisy of liberals who excuse Ted Kennedy for Chappaquiddick because of “all the good he did in life”. Yet we are seeing through the continued deification of Paterno that such a thing cuts across political lines. And in such a debate, those that are truly victims of this scandal are again forgotten.

]]>By: fewenuffhttp://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/27/too-good-to-check-disgraced-ex-chief-of-penn-state-now-working-on-national-security/comment-page-1/#comment-6070286
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:09:03 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=208895#comment-60702861) People that have clearances lose them for far smaller offenses
2) Clearances of any import take many months to obtain
3) Waivers are available BUT typically NOT for clearances of any import
4) Clearances are not to be advertised
5) Advertising clearances of import is cause to lose said clearance

]]>By: Schadenfreudehttp://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/27/too-good-to-check-disgraced-ex-chief-of-penn-state-now-working-on-national-security/comment-page-1/#comment-6069995
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:39:33 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=208895#comment-6069995Meh, Big Sis is in charge of your security? Secure yourself, from her and all the goons.
]]>By: heckruleshttp://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/27/too-good-to-check-disgraced-ex-chief-of-penn-state-now-working-on-national-security/comment-page-1/#comment-6069971
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:30:38 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=208895#comment-6069971Freeh and the MSM are wrong on many of their “talking points” about Paterno and possibly Spanier….it seems many here are skeptical of the MSM when it comes to politics….use that same tenacity to review the actual facts of the case and you will see the outright stretching of reality needed to make allegations in the Freeh report true and the veracity with which the MSM has leveled allegations to ruin the career of a good man….PS….I believe Sandusky is 100% guilty, but like other types of master criminals before him, Sandusky was a master at concealing the true horror of his crimes….
]]>By: ghostwalker1http://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/27/too-good-to-check-disgraced-ex-chief-of-penn-state-now-working-on-national-security/comment-page-1/#comment-6069937
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:15:52 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=208895#comment-6069937So covering for a pederast now qualifies you for a security clearance. My how times have changed… Perhaps his new assigment involves ‘undercover’ work.
]]>By: Akzedhttp://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/27/too-good-to-check-disgraced-ex-chief-of-penn-state-now-working-on-national-security/comment-page-1/#comment-6069914
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:07:03 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=208895#comment-6069914“I work for the government… it’s classified, top secret stuff. I can’t tell you what it is. I wish I could but, you know what they say, ‘If I tell you I’ll have to kill you.’ Heh heh. It’s dangerous work though. I’m shipping out tomorrow in fact. Yeah, this is my last night in the states. Who knows, I might not ever come back. So whaddya say? Can we make this a special night, one I won’t forget? Huh baby? Please?”
]]>By: woodNfishhttp://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/27/too-good-to-check-disgraced-ex-chief-of-penn-state-now-working-on-national-security/comment-page-1/#comment-6069906
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:05:08 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=208895#comment-6069906It seems that vigilantes are needed once again to bring justice to this country.
]]>By: either orrhttp://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/27/too-good-to-check-disgraced-ex-chief-of-penn-state-now-working-on-national-security/comment-page-1/#comment-6069899
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:59:49 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=208895#comment-6069899Hey, Ed… point of fact… Sand*sky’s keys to the football building were reported to have been lifted after the 2001 incident. Now that would not preclude him from using showers elsewhere on campus, such as Rec Hall (the old gym), the swimming facilities, or even the Jordan Center.
And, isn’t it interesting that Spanier claimed in his letter of earlier this week that he, too, was the victim of abuse as a youngster.
]]>